Related papers: A Heavy QCD Axion and the Mirror World
The axion emerges in extensions of the Standard Model that explain the absence of CP violation in the strong interactions. Simultaneously, it can provide naturally the cold dark matter in our universe. Several searches for axions and…
The recently proposed dark dimension scenario reveals that axions can be localized on the Standard Model brane, thereby predicting the quantum chromodynamics (QCD) axion decay constant from the Weak Gravity Conjecture: $f_a\lesssim M_5 \sim…
The dark dimension scenario, which is motivated from Swampland principles and predicts a single micron scale extra dimension, suggests a consistent framework for the dark sector of the universe. We consider the implications of this scenario…
If dark matter is made of QCD axions, its abundance is determined by the vacuum expectation value acquired by the axion field during inflation. The axion is usually assumed to follow the equilibrium distribution arising from quantum…
Dark matter constitutes about $23\%$ of the total energy density of the universe but its properties are still little known besides that it should be composed by cold and weakly interacting particles. Many beyond standard model theories can…
There can exist a parallel `mirror' world which has the same particle physics as the observable world and couples the latter only gravitationally. The nucleosynthesis bounds demand that the mirror sector should have a smaller temperature…
A modification of the relation between axion mass and the PQ constant permits a relaxation of the astrophysical constraints, considerably enlarging the allowed axion parameter space. We develop this idea in this paper, discussing a model…
The QCD axion can solve the Strong CP Problem and be the dark matter of our universe. If the PQ symmetry breaking scale associated with the axion is below the inflationary reheating temperature, axion strings and domain walls populate the…
An exact parity replicates the Standard Model giving a Mirror Standard Model, SM $\leftrightarrow$ SM$'$. This "Higgs Parity" and the mirror electroweak symmetry are spontaneously broken by the mirror Higgs, $\left\langle H'\right\rangle =…
The string axion may provide the most attractive solution to the strong CP problem in QCD. However, the axion energy density easily exceeds the dark matter density in the present universe due to a large decay constant around $10^{16}$ GeV,…
In the framework where the strong coupling is dynamical, the QCD sector may confine at a much higher temperature than it would in the Standard Model, and the temperature-dependent mass of the QCD axion evolves in a non-trivial way. We find…
QCD axions can be a substantial part of dark matter if their mass $m_a\sim10^{-5}$eV. Since the axions were created by the misalignment mechanism, their local energy spectrum density is large. Consequently, the axion-induced atomic…
The QCD axion is a good dark matter candidate. The observed dark matter abundance can arise from misalignment or defect mechanisms, which generically require an axion decay constant $f_a \sim \mathcal{O}(10^{11})$ GeV (or higher). We…
We show that the initial misalignment angle of the QCD axion (or axion-like particles) can be set very close to $\pi$, if the QCD axion has a mixing with another heavy axion which induces the phase shift $\approx \pi$ after inflation. In…
We explore whether the axion which solves the strong CP problem can naturally be much lighter than the canonical QCD axion. The $Z_\mathcal{N}$ symmetry proposed by Hook, with $\mathcal{N}$ mirror and degenerate worlds coexisting in Nature…
This is the second paper of a series devoted to the study of the cosmological implications of the existence of mirror dark matter. The parallel hidden mirror world has the same microphysics as the observable one and couples the latter only…
We present a connection between two known solutions to the strong-CP problem: the standard introduction of axions and the extra-dimensional one, relying on topological arguments. Using an equivalent lower-dimensional set-up with a warped…
Why matter and dark matter contents of the universe are of the same order of magnitude, is one of the puzzles of modern cosmology. At the face of it, this would seem to point towards a basic similarity between matter and dark matter,…
Current techniques cannot detect axion dark matter over much of its parameter space, particularly in the theoretically well-motivated region where the axion decay constant f_a lies near the GUT and Planck scales. We suggest a novel…
The interaction between the dark/mirror sector and the ordinary sector is considered, where the two sectors interact with each other by sharing the same QCD axion field. This feature makes the mixing between ordinary and dark/mirror photons…